Store bought ceiling fans usually are shipped in cartons having separate packing materials such as foam inserts for the multiple components that must be assembled by the installer when the ceiling fan is made ready to be hung. It is common that at the least the ceiling fan blades are detached from the motor housing and along with blade fasteners such as screws are separately packed in the shipping carton.
Generally each conventional ceiling fan blade generally requires some five fasteners such as screws for the assembly process. Thus, the cartons that carry the ceiling fans from the store to the installation location must have separate packaging for twenty screws for a four blade fan, and twenty-five screws if the fan has five blades. Clearly, problems can further occur if only one fastener(screw) is missing.
Additionally, the boxed ceiling fan generally uses separate packaging for the blades and the blade arms. Extra foam inserts and additional manufacturing costs occur for each separate part that must be packaged. Thus, the installer has multiple loose parts and packaging materials when the store bought ceiling fan is first taken out of the carton.
In addition to having multiple loose parts, a typical installer must follow a tedious process in order to assemble and hang the ceiling fan. In FIG. 1, a conventional ceiling fan motor housing 10 has a rotor component 20 that rotates about a central axis within motor housing 10, which is in turn connected to a hanger assembly 5 that is attached beneath a ceiling 2. A plurality of fan blades 30 are connected to the rotor 20 by mounting arms 40. Each mounting arm 40 has one end 42 connected to an end 32 of each fan blade 30, and a second end 44 having at least two through-holes 45 therethrough, so that conventional fasteners such as screws 50 pass through the through-holes 45 to mateably thread into threaded holes 25 in the bottom of rotor 20.
Usually most conventional directions have the installer first connect and hang the motor housing 10, rotor 20 and hanger assembly 5 to a ceiling. More often than not the installer is usually perched on a stool or ladder. Next, many directions have the installer attach the fan blades 30 to their respective mounting arms 40. Finally, one of the last steps is to connect the blade 30 and respective mounting arm 40 to the rotor 20 on the motor.
To finish this final assembly step takes great dexterity, patience, balance and time. In order for a single person 60 to be able to complete this final step, the installer 60 needs to hold in one hand 62 the fan blade 30 and already attached mounting arm 40, and to position a screw driver 70 to the heads of screws 50 with the other hand 64. The installer must be able to balance the mounting screws 50 on the tip of the screw driver 70, insert the screws upwardly though the holes 44 in the mounting arm, making sure not to accidentally drop the screws 50 and then screw the screws 50 into the mating holes 25 on the rotor 20 all while still holding the blade 30 and arm 40. This assembly requires the installer to have to constantly hold both hands 62 and 64 raised high above their head, while again standing on a stool or ladder.
Many problems occur from this traditional method of assembly and installation of the ceiling fan. Screws 50 can and do accidentally fall and become lost causing more time and more expense to finish the installation. The installer 60 often has to constantly re position the blade 30 and arm 40 in order to be able to properly line up the through-holes 45 in the mounting arms 40 with their respective mating holes 25 in the bottom of rotor 20. The blade 30 and mounting arm 40 have been known to fall on and cause injury to the user 60 during assembly. Additionally, the user can lose their balance and injure themselves as well as falling off the ladder and stool. Additional problems also occur after installation. For example, uneven tightening of each of the plural fasteners that connect the mounting arm to the motor has resulted in wobble effects when the ceiling fan system is running. Thus, these current assembly and installation steps has become known as a frustrating, undesirable, difficult, tedious, time consuming and sometimes dangerous for the installer.
The problem of extra packaging and loose parts previously discussed occurs again if and when the ceiling fan needs to be taken down and reboxed. In order to fit again in the original carton, each of the ceiling fan blades must be detached from the motor housing and the separate fasteners and separate blades must be repacked back into the original carton.